Coryell County, Texas

Coryell County, located in central Texas,is surrounded by Hamilton County, Bosque County , McLennan County, Bell County , and Lampasas County. Gatesville, the county seat, is on Highway 84 and Highway 36, about eighty miles north of Austin and 110 miles southwest of Dallas.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Arnett | Ater | Bee House | Cavitt | Copperas Cove | Coryell City (Rainey's Creek) | Eagle Springs | Evant (partly in Hamilton County) | Flat | Fort Gates | Fort Hood | Gatesville | The Grove | Harman | Henson's Creek | Ireland | Jonesboro (partly in Hamilton County) | King (Stringtown) | Leon Junction | Levita | Lincolnville | Mound | Mountain | Oglesby | Osage | Pancake | Pearl | Pidcoke | Pleasant Grove | Purmela | Ruth | Slater | South Mountain | South Purmelia | Spring Hill | Station Creek | The Grove | Topsey | Turnersville | Turnover | Whitson

History

Coryell County. Formed from Bell County; created February 4, 1854--Organized March 4, 1854. Named in Honor of James Coryell, born in Tennesse in 1796; a member of the Bowie Expedition to the old San Saba Silver Mines in 1831; a Texas Ranger; killed by Indians near Fort Milam May 27, 1837. County seat Fort Gates 1854; Gatesville since. - Historical Marker Text.  Marker erected 1936. Location: From Gatesville, take SH 84 east about 8.5 mi in picnic area

Coryell County. The area that became Coryell County was part of the Milam Land District, assigned by the Mexican government for settlement first to Robert Leftwich in 1825, and later to Sterling C. Robertson. Some of the land was surveyed as early as 1835, but few settlements existed before the late 1840s, when the United States established Fort Gates and other military posts along the frontier to protect incoming residents from Indians. The line of frontier forts was moved farther west in the early 1850s, and Fort Gates was abandoned in 1852. Settlers in the Fort Gates area numbered about 250 at that time, and they began to campaign for a county seat. In 1854 the legislature established Coryell County and named it in honor of frontiersman James Coryell, an early landholder. Residents chose the site for Gatesville, the county seat, in an election held in May 1854.

Besides Fort Gates, settlements established in Coryell County in the 1850s included Mound, Coryell Church, Rainey's Creek (Coryell City), Langford Cove (Evant), Boyd's Cove (Bee House), the Grove, Henson's Creek, Spring Hill, Station Creek, Turnover, and Lincolnville.

Coryell County. This county takes its name from a creek, which derived its name from a man named Coryell, who had a survey of land on this creek, and was killed several years ago by Indians. The county is divided into prairie, timber, mountains and valleys. The Leon River is the main stream, which runs into the county about ten miles south of the north-west corner ; it then makes a bend more southward, and runs near the centre of the county ; thence out to the south of the north-east corner, about eight miles. The main tributary of the Leon, on the north, is Coryell creek, which has its source near the north­  west corner of the county, and runs south-east to the Leon, about twelve miles below Gatesville.  

County & Town Histories

History of Coryell County, 1965 by Zelma Scott

Coryell County, Texas, Families, 1854-1985, 1986 by Coryell County Genealogical Society

Copperas Cove, City of Five Hills: A Centennial History, 1980 by Jerry K. Smith and Patrick D. McLaughlin

Clyde and Mabel Bailey, Vignettes of Coryell County, 1976 by Clyde and Mabel Bailey

Location

Coryell County Gatesville, TX 31° 26' 6.594" N, 97° 44' 38.0796" W

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